About the Site

The WanderingMuse.net is the online component of Artesian Films’ multiplatform project that explores the vibrant array of Jewish music. We visited remnants of disappearing Jewish musical communities, and witnessed the dynamic birth of the new Jewish music. Our goal is to explore Jewish identity in great depth and breadth through the universal language of music.

Over the past 8 years, Tamás Wormser, has been on a mission to bring back musical stories from around the globe. The result of his passion is The Wandering Muse – a feature-length documentary film and this website. Taking the music beyond the concert hall, we see artists with their families, in their daily routines and travel with them to performances. We join in the spontaneous magic of the creative process that transcends the struggles of a musician’s life. Stereotypes are shattered and expectations up-ended, it is a fascinating, touching and funny multi-lingual journey – a symphony of surprises through non-linear time and space.

Launching the site with over 200 video clips showcasing hundreds of Jewish musicians, we are barely scratching the surface of what is out there. Therefore, we invite all Jewish musicians to build their own page and share their clips, and to make this into a living audio-visual library.

The public can actively engage and participate, while discovering treasures in this multilingual Jewish music archive where creativity and knowledge is shared across borders. Musicians’ profiles are easily accessible to browse through an open system, by using a variety of key words (such as name, instrument, style and country) and other interactive ways we developed to navigate the massive content. (See below: Jewish Music Network and Video Archive).

This online showcase of Jewish musicians is not solely as a one-way communication medium, but also as a creative space. (See Remix Contests).

Our humble intention was to build an online hub for international Jewish music, where the public can discover musicians from across the globe and upload their own contribution to an ever-expanding community. In the world of online music, this is the first project of its kind. People will return here to find new treasures, and to mix, mash up and share the latest content from established and up-and-coming musicians and music lovers. The site is not directed towards Jewish communities alone, but to a wide intercultural and intergenerational public curious about history, traditions, multiculturalism, arts, religion, spirituality and music.
Jews have always absorbed, exchanged, and spread music around the globe. The reluctant nomads used their instruments as passports to the larger community. Along the way, liturgy went lyrical, the traditional turned popular. And oy begat joy.

The Wandering Muse connects the scattered dots of the world’s most complex and ancient diaspora. It is a cross-platform project that visits remnants of disappearing Jewish musical communities and attends the birth of a radical new Jewish music – a kaleidoscope at the end of the 58th century.

In a borderless world of harmonies, we follow a Muse that is elusive and persistently present at the same time. As we dance our way from sacred to secular, from Montreal to Moscow and Marrakesh, musicians expand our perspectives to an irresistible beat. With music that shows the endless flexibility of a culture in transit, The Wandering Muse celebrates the sound and rhythm of diverse Jewish communities.

On this site you will find:

Jewish Music Network

Musicians

This is a great place to promote your MUSIC –an online community of fans and Jewish musicians. Sign Up and create your MUSICIAN and BAND pages, upload music, videos, photos, social media and more. You can update it at any time, change your poster’s colour and tag musicians who are in a video (it will send them an email and add the video also on to their page). You can add the cities where you and your ancestors have lived, mapping your wanderings on a unique map.Have fun discovering other musicians and styles.

Fans

Sign up as a FAN, discover the endless world of Jewish music, watch hundreds of videos and share your favourite treasures. You can add the cities where you and your ancestors have lived, mapping your wanderings on a unique map. You can also have a personal diary page with a separate map and stories.

Video Archive

Watch hundreds of videos with colourful Jewish musicians of all styles from around the world!

Music Remix Contests

If you are a musician, amateur or professional, you will love this. In this contest you download sound clips that musicians post, remix them, and upload your remixes to the contest. (For example, you can mix an Uzbeki and Moroccan sound clip and add your own voice to it.) Share your remixes with friends and the most-voted remixes at the end of the contest will win prizes.

About the Film

THE WANDERING MUSE, a feature-length documentary film, explores the kaleidoscope of Jewish identities through the ever-changing music of the Jewish diaspora. Watch the trailer, film stills, find local screening, press and more.